Microsoft Will Make Steam "Progressively Worse" With Windows 10 Patches

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Epic's Tim Sweeney continues his year-long rant against Microsoft and its UWP framework. This time around Sweeney seems to think that Microsoft is intentionally trying to break Steam and this is how he claims they will do it:

"Slowly, over the next five years, they will force-patch Windows 10 to make Steam progressively worse and more broken. They’ll never completely break it, but will continue to break it until, in five years, people are so fed up that Steam is buggy that the Windows Store seems like an ideal alternative. That’s exactly what they did to their previous competitors in other areas. Now they’re doing it to Steam. It’s only just starting to become visible. Microsoft might not be competent enough to succeed with their plan, but they’re certainly trying."
 
They nearly got their company ripped in half for doing this with Internet Explorer vs. Netscape and Office vs. Wordperfect. I'm pretty sure at this point they realize that it isn't a realistic option to pursue that strategy again. Microsoft will never be able to force everyone to use the Store, they'd be bitch-slapped by AntiTrust issues so hard they'd have to offer Windows exclusively as an XWindows GUI choice to satisfy the EU they'd learned their lesson.
 
I just read an article about Microsoft adding more of their titles to steam. Seems silly they would try and cripple the program, then again I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
 
What would they do exactly to make Steam worse? Release patches that slow it down or make it crash, etc? Is that possible or legal?
 
I find this really hard to believe. Not saying it isn't possible, but this sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Microsoft as well as everyone else knows nobody is fucking using the Windows Store (for obvious reasons) so they could conceivably break Steam through forced Windows patches but there is no reason to believe that Steam couldn't just update Steam to circumvent it. There seems to be a Steam update almost every week so I honestly am not worried in the least.
 
zamardii12 said:
I find this really hard to believe. Not saying it isn't possible, but this sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Microsoft as well as everyone else knows nobody is fucking using the Windows Store (for obvious reasons) so they could conceivably break Steam through forced Windows patches but there is no reason to believe that Steam couldn't just update Steam to circumvent it. There seems to be a Steam update almost every week so I honestly am not worried in the least.
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you mean the same way Microsoft has purposely crippled Windows 7 updates to take forever 'checking for updates'??...MS is shady and they know how to get away with it
 
Microsoft brought the store issues on themselves by not filtering out all the trash in there. It's 99% garbage apps, if you search for say "Pokemon" you get a stream of total garbage. If they don't have Pokemon, there shouldn't be anything there, especially not a bunch of copyright infringing crapware.
 
polonyc2 said:
one of the many reasons why I'm still using Windows 7...
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Not really a reason though, Steam works perfectly with Windows 10 and today quite a few more people are using Steam with Windows 10 than 7. I have it installed on the latest Insider Preview and Steam works perfectly. It's not like we haven't heard this type of accusation before, that Microsoft intentionally breaks competitor's software. And sure there's been certain issues in the past with certain things but software compatibility is the hallmark of Windows. Try running 10 year old apps on any other platform and see how well that works. I just installed the original Far Cry from Steam on my sig rig. Works fine, a 12 year old game.
 
And why Valve needs to move their business over to Linux. But without every game being ported over, Valve needs to work on a compatibility layer. Fork Wine, and make it actually work, then add an option in Steam to install Windows games with this.
 
Well, if DX12 was the only future API for PC games, i would say they could pull it off, but with Vulkan showing good results and being platform agnostic, i would say MS is going to find it hard to get rid of steam. The new exclusives will be DX12/Win10 platform instead of console. If they can build a cross platform ecosystem for devs. ie, console, pc without the need to buy specific software, but require specific branded hardware, ie, RX??? and FX??? CPU, we could see a push towards a locked down console like system. Devs will jump on board because they will not need two teams (one console/ one PC) for development. However, PC gamers will suffer because games are already dumbed down in graphics, level design and multiplayer because of the console, and this will make it even worse. On the up side (sort of), games will play as designed without the bugs of today, or at least in theory. I rather like having an open platform, but it looks to be a losing battle.
 
Article said:
"The risk here is that, if Microsoft convinces everybody to use UWP, then they phase out Win32 apps. If they can succeed in doing that then it’s a small leap to forcing all apps and games to be distributed through the Windows Store. Once we reach that point, the PC has become a closed platform.
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Yeah, I just don't see that happening.
 
DukenukemX said:
And why Valve needs to move their business over to Linux. But without every game being ported over, Valve needs to work on a compatibility layer. Fork Wine, and make it actually work, then add an option in Steam to install Windows games with this.
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This an insane amount of work just to sell the same game without the additional work on Windows.
 
polonyc2 said:
MS was never competing directly with Steam until Windows 10 so they had no reason to cripple anything...
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MS has competed with several programs in the past and has never gone out of their way to cripple any of them. Gaming is such a minor part of their business they have no reason to put effort into crippling anything now. Stop listening to crazy conspiracy theories and think about issues logically.
 
polonyc2 said:
MS was never competing directly with Steam until Windows 10 so they had no reason to cripple anything...
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But Steam runs fine on Windows 10 with games I've tried as old as 12 years. And the Windows Store is more than just about games or the desktop. There's no tablet or touch software on Steam.
 
There would be lawsuits up the ass. Valve only would have to find out what is causing the bug (and they would. It would be hard to cover that the OS is tampering with the software on purpose) and come out with a public statement with some documents as proof.
 
Derangel said:
MS has competed with several programs in the past and has never gone out of their way to cripple any of them. Gaming is such a minor part of their business they have no reason to put effort into crippling anything now. Stop listening to crazy conspiracy theories and think about issues logically.
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as I mentioned earlier MS has crippled Windows 7 updates to take forever to load updates (no conspiracy theory, I know from first hand experience plus a Google search will turn up tons of hits as well)...I wouldn't put anything past MS at this point...with Windows 10 they really went full 'Breaking Bad'
 
If this truly was the case, Steam and likely other devs would port their stuff to Linux pretty quickly I'd think. I mean they are about 90% there with Steam/Valve titles, so the path is already there.
 
As if valve is working toward the betterment of mankind either. Companies will jump into exclusivity when the check is large enough.

When was the last linux or playstation gears game?
 
polonyc2 said:
as I mentioned earlier MS has crippled Windows 7 updates to take forever to load updates (no conspiracy theory, I know from first hand experience plus a Google search will turn up tons of hits as well)...I wouldn't put anything past MS at this point...with Windows 10 they really went full 'Breaking Bad'
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So, SCCM guy here who deals with patches for Win 7/8 and soon 10. I don't know what you are talking about. Patches work exactly the same as they have previously. The only difference is that if you load a non-patched install you have quite a few years of patching to do.
 
polonyc2 said:
as I mentioned earlier MS has crippled Windows 7 updates to take forever to load updates (no conspiracy theory, I know from first hand experience plus a Google search will turn up tons of hits as well)...I wouldn't put anything past MS at this point...with Windows 10 they really went full 'Breaking Bad'
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Just FYI, that was fixed months ago with the release of a new WU client and some kernel updates. Not to say that it shouldn't have happened in the first place, but it has been addressed. Our systems here have gone from multi-hour update searches to <5 minutes for search and install since installing the proper KB fixes.
 
polonyc2 said:
as I mentioned earlier MS has crippled Windows 7 updates to take forever to load updates (no conspiracy theory, I know from first hand experience plus a Google search will turn up tons of hits as well)...I wouldn't put anything past MS at this point...with Windows 10 they really went full 'Breaking Bad'
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A quick google search for me found that it was quickly fixed.
 
heatlesssun said:
This an insane amount of work just to sell the same game without the additional work on Windows.
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Things like Vulkan make this much more possible. And for devs it would be good to make their games work in Vulkan/standard API as it would support all platforms.
 
ClariorHincHonos said:
If this truly was the case, Steam and likely other devs would port their stuff to Linux pretty quickly I'd think. I mean they are about 90% there with Steam/Valve titles, so the path is already there.
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Even if this were the case, I don't see developers quickly porting games over to a platform that Steam says consistently month after month with its survey has virtually no users.
 
heatlesssun said:
Even if this were the case, I don't see developers quickly porting games over to a platform that Steam says consistently month after month with its survey has virtually no users.
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I even could imagine that if microsoft completely failed and no more windows were to be produced that it is more likely that Apple would port osx and pick up the group more likely than linux.
 
To be fair, I could see a 'free' version of Windows that you could only get apps from the store. Then the 'Pro' version you could install any Win32 app that you wanted, but honestly Sweeney is jumping at shadows because Microsoft's business customers need to be able to install Win32 programs, and they are not going to shoot their enterprise software business in the foot like that.
 
Shmee said:
To be fair, I could see a 'free' version of Windows that you could only get apps from the store. Then the 'Pro' version you could install any Win32 app that you wanted, but honestly Sweeney is jumping at shadows because Microsoft's business customers need to be able to install Win32 programs, and they are not going to shoot their enterprise software business in the foot like that.
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Microsoft already tried that, it was called Windows RT and it was a huge flop. Now it's possible that Microsoft could try that again, but the Windows Store simply isn't good enough for that now and for the foreseeable future. Oddly enough, Windows x86 on 2 in 1 devices in the last couple of years has been anything but a flop. The ability to run store and desktop apps, that formula right now is working.
 
Personally I don't think MS would risk this. They have little to gain and everything to lose. That said and being someone who isn't a huge fan of Steam in the first place (though I have grudgingly started using it recently), This is precisely why 90% of my game collection is on a disc. The only games I have through steam are a handful of indi titles or games I otherwise got for less than $10. I'm willing to give up some of the control of my game "IF" the price justifies it. I won't ever purchase a game at full retail digitally, that is just straight foolish.
 
polonyc2 said:
as I mentioned earlier MS has crippled Windows 7 updates to take forever to load updates (no conspiracy theory, I know from first hand experience plus a Google search will turn up tons of hits as well)...I wouldn't put anything past MS at this point...with Windows 10 they really went full 'Breaking Bad'
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Not an issue anymore. I personally only saw it a few times, but it was fixed fairly quickly.
 
Steam rant but remember the day when you could buy a game CD, install and only needed a CD check?
 
Sweeny never said they'd completely break the win32 system. I diagree with him that they will do anything at all to cripple it "intentionally". All they will do is accomplish the same goal of crippling it without any risk of lawsuits by just letting win32 stagnate while spending most if not all resources on improving UWP. This is no different than the Win 7 Update thing. I doubt they did it "intentionally" but I don't doubt they "intentionally" took their time to identify it and fix it because there was no reason to fix it quick since Win 10 was available as a fix for the issue.
 
polonyc2 said:
you mean the same way Microsoft has purposely crippled Windows 7 updates to take forever 'checking for updates'??...MS is shady and they know how to get away with it
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Shit like this always confuses me. MS just refused to keep Windows 7 updated, because guess what? It was a consistent SECURITY HOLE. It was always breaking on the back end in terms of security because people didn't keep on top of their updates.

So from just a security standpoint, OF COURSE they want people on 10, where it does the updates for them. Its an inherently more secure platform. But people have to be all "waaah!!! I want Windows 7!" or "Damn the MS Conspiracy to sell shit!"

Trust me, I get MS is pushing a product and wants people to buy it. But they also gave it away for free for a year and there are other, far more legit reasons for them to want people to move to 10 than the usual nerd rage hyperbole.

That being said, I actually hope this means UT will go the Vulkan route, and I hope more games going forward go Vulkan, not because of any anti-MS resentment nerd rage, but because when it comes down to the early numbers when done right, Vulkan just outperforms DX12.
 
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